Best Motoring's Tsukuba shootouts regularly put all the others to shame. Sure, they might lack some of the high-dollar production quality of other motoring shows, but they make up for it with mesmerizing track sessions and entertaining commentary. Case in point, in the recent edition of the Japanese-language video series, they've pitted the new Subaru Impreza WRX STI against the Mitsubishi Evolution X with the five-speed gearbox. But to make it even more interesting, they included the SST-equipped version of the Evo X, an Evo IX MR GSR and the last generation WRX STI. The video shows where each vehicle excels and falters, with a few choice gems coming from the drivers like, "Ohhhh, undudasteero!" and "sido-by-sido."
The results may be surprising, but we won't spoil the ending. Check the video after the jump.
Thanks for the tip Ovidio!
[Source: YouTube via Zercustoms]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Rob @ Jan 9th 2008 8:24PM
Awesome clip! Doesn't get much better than this.
TwinTurbo3000GT @ Jan 9th 2008 10:36PM
indeed...but wouldnt have made more sense to run them one at a time and get the best lap time?
either way, if it's my money im spending, you'll still find me at the Mitsu dealership. Just cant live without those looks.
ericpan @ Jan 10th 2008 4:13AM
Didn't they qualify and line up on the grid accordingly?
TBlueMax @ Jan 9th 2008 8:25PM
That was great fun! It was nice to see all 5 cars running together - old and new, STI and Evo. I really enjoyed being able to see the differences in the bodystyles of the STI side-by-side. I was also surprised by how well the Evo IX MR GSR did against the pair of Exo Xs.
Same cars with different drivers on a different track may have yielded different results but the new STI really worked hard for the win this time around.
Hike15 @ Jan 9th 2008 8:27PM
Interesting video
Great idea putting the new models against each other and the old models
I was somewhat surprised to see both of the new evos in last
Jeremy @ Jan 9th 2008 8:38PM
The last time Best Motoring tested the Evo X it had pre-production models that were suffering from overheating. My guess is that the SST in this video was still in that boat. I'm not saying the test is completely invalid, but I wouldn't put any stock in any test until we have real, production cars to test.
policyvote @ Jan 9th 2008 10:04PM
Uh, I direct everyone's attention to about 7:05 in the video, where for fifteen seconds it's plain as day that the Evo IX is simply faster than the Evo X behind it.
Peace
policy
Dax @ Jan 9th 2008 8:55PM
Not to totally discredit Best Motoring, but it's completely obvious in all their videos that the drivers vastly vary in skill, thereby completely negating the final result. Until I see a same day comparo on Top Gear, or in a creditable auto mag with a sole drive...the jury is still out.
Steve Levin @ Jan 9th 2008 9:11PM
That said, the car that finished last was driven by Yuji Ide, who had a brief (although not particularly good) appearance in Formula 1 a couple of years ago. So by "mortal" standards I'd be amazed if any of the other four were much better.
I think it's a lot more even than you think.
Dax @ Jan 9th 2008 9:15PM
I'm a huge F1 fan and saying Ide was anything but utter crap is LIES!
K @ Jan 9th 2008 9:23PM
I really hate when people discredit the Best Motoring drivers. Almost all the drivers they have are current or ex JGCT/SuperGT racers or ex-F1. That alone makes them better than 99.99999999999999999999% of all drivers. The difference between two such drivers in the same car won't be very big to claim that the results were bull.
kayne001 @ Jan 17th 2008 3:01AM
can't wait to see the stig drive them separately, i don't want no Clarkson vs. Stig drives.
nagmashot @ Jan 10th 2008 1:54AM
Yuji Ide was so bad as F1 race driver that he was banned from F1 after 4 races!!!!!!!!!!
He was the reason for a bad accident of Christjian Albers at Imola..after that accident Ide was banned form F1 racing!
There is no blaming in best motoring drivers, it is a simple fact that japanese race driver of the past and today are not the best in the world... they had never success in any important world wide race series!
No F1 driver title
No WRC driver title
No ALMS title
No DTM title
No WTCC title
wins at LeMans only as teammates of big motorsport names.. ironicly the only japanese manufactor success at LeMans of Mazda was driven by europen drivers.
The JGTC has such a "low driver skill level" that a in Germany/Europe completely unknown German race driver (Michael Krumm) was able to win the JGTC twice against all that japanese race heros.
It is normal practis for europen race driver to went to asia to make there a name because there it is much easyer to win a race series.
How many F1 race driver joined the JGTC befor or after there F1 carrer?
Just to think about some F1 race driver that went to DTM after they finished F1 or went from DTM to F1.
To name some
Rossberg, Häkkinen, Alesi, Nanini, Wurz, Fisichella, Stuck, Danner, Larini, Schneider, Albers, Paffett, McNish, Winkelhock, Frentzen, Pirro, Cecetto, Michel Schumacher (in 1990) that are three F1 driver world hampions...representing 10 F1 driver title.
Tom Kristensen to curret DTM champion has won the 24h of LeMans 7times..and two time the race of champions.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Jan 10th 2008 3:19AM
I'm not impressed with the JGTC drivers either. They could kick my ass, that's for sure, but most aren't exactly big-time on the world stage. The level feels similar to BTCC, where the drivers run the gamut from very good drivers who earned their spot as top drivers in their country to undisciplined drivers that are high-level club drivers with access to enough money to buy a ride. Most of these drivers would have trouble getting a ride in a top team in ALMS.
As an interesting note, Ralf Schumacher went from JGTC to F1. Erik Comas went from F1 to JGTC.
But regardless, you don't have to be Michael Schumacher to test drive these cars. The level of drivers in this video is good enough to show us more than a thing or two about driving these cars.
Franz @ Jan 10th 2008 4:38AM
The other guys... Ide included might be comparable on skill, but Tsuchiya is in a class all by himself. Personally, I think he'd have won no matter which car he was driving. Trust me... I've seen him in many Touge battles (one where he blazed a Ferrari F430!!!) and Tsukuba battles and the man is brilliant.
nagmashot @ Jan 10th 2008 8:51AM
@ why not the LS2/LS7?
Ralf Schumacher drove both the JGTC and Formel Nippon at the same time in 1996.
He went straight from the German Formel3 to the Formel Nippon and won it in his first season... in the same year he was second in the JGTC on a McLaren BMW.
Today here at autoblog is Ralf blamed as a bad F1 driver... he was so bad that he was able as a young unexperiend hotshot to own all japanese race heros in the two major japanese race series at once..
I guess that says all...
Kyle @ Jan 9th 2008 9:08PM
Good video, but I don't think it really means anything. Who didn't see Tsuchiya winning that race? A virtual track of unknowns and small drifters up against the great DK; that guy is a fantastic driver and no one else ever stood a chance.
I think the results would have been the same even if every driver switched cars... Tsuchiya would have come in first.
K @ Jan 9th 2008 9:25PM
Stop being in denial. Even if you are right then driver ability helps in the corners, but you can't deny the fact that the new sti and the old evo heavily pulled their counterparts on the straight where driver ability doesn't really matter.
Kyle @ Jan 9th 2008 10:30PM
^ I don't remember ever mentioning my stance on any of the cars. For all you know I was rooting for the new STI.
It still comes down to driver skill, because if you notice the first 2-3 laps, they are very very close (as all races obviously), but as seconds started to add up lap after lap, it was obvious that driver skill became a huge determination. Its not like I'm saying I could do better, but were talking about accuracy; and the playing field needs to be even to really accurately determine a result.
A more accurate test would be to have Tsuchiya set a hot lap in each car, and then compare. Less entertaining but a lot more accurate.
Allan @ Jan 10th 2008 1:09PM
Do you know what DK stands for?
Donkey kong?